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Considering bit flips were the leading theory for the changed key, I'm surprised it took that long to brute force test for the changed bit(s).

Sure I dont know how long the key length was, I dont know how long the encrypted string was, but surely it wouldnt have taken that long to cycle through a number of flipped bits, or would it?

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Same intuition here.

Assuming no miscommunication or subterfuge, perhaps it can be explained by a large number of bits flipped by a single ray and/or a preponderance of rays, each flipping a small number of bits. If the satellite's shielding design was poor, there could have been a lot of exposure from a single event, such as a solar flare.

Or perhaps just a single bit of code was flipped and it began writing to protected areas of memory.

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